Conventional pipe brackets for the food industry and the pharmaceutical industry are traditionally metal brackets with a lining of rubber in which the pipe rests on and by having such a shape it has certain hygiene and cleaning advantages compared to brackets based on only metal.
Such pipe brackets will, however, typically not be able to achieve hygienic approval according to the 3A and EHEDG requirements, which are specified by respectively 3A, which is an independent organisation for promoting hygienic equipment for the food industry, beverage industry and the pharmaceutical industry and EHEDG, European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group, which is a consortium of manufacturers of equipment for e.g. the food industry for promoting hygienic conditions in relation to food production.
It has been found that there are some drawbacks of this known technique, including that the known bracket types have typically got surfaces on which filth or process water can accumulate and which are difficult to clean and drain.
Moreover, the brackets are mechanically unstable since the rubber lining typically expands over time and thereby loosens the grip around the pipe profile, and the “liquid” mounting of the pipes results in a mechanically unstable assembly of pipe frames or pipe stands.
The rubber lining also results in that there is not an electrical contact between pipe and bracket and thereby not the same potential through the whole construction. This results in a risk of corrosion and risk of explosion in atmospheres with e.g. hydrogen.
DE 29505312 U (HESTERBERG) 06.07.1995 describes a pipe holder including a body with a center hole where the body includes at least two nonelastic bracket parts with internal surfaces towards the center hole and external surfaces and where the bracket parts' internal surfaces include at least two radial spokes with spoke end surfaces.
It is, however, a drawback of the pipe holder described in DE 2950512 U that filth can accumulate between the pipe holder and the pipe, which is to be fixed, whereby the pipe holder cannot be used in applications where special hygiene requirements must be met, for example with the A and EHEDG standards.